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Sunday, December 20, 2015

The Lotus Sutra's One Buddha Doctrine

"In the “Life Span” chapter of the Lotus Sutra, the Buddha says, “Sometimes I speak of myself, sometimes of others.” The Buddha Good Virtue of the eastern region, the Thus Come One Mahāvairochana of the center, the Buddhas of the ten directions, the seven Buddhas of the past, the Buddhas of the three existences, Bodhisattva Superior Practices and the other bodhisattvas, Manjushrī, Shāriputra and the others, the great heavenly king Brahmā, the devil king of the sixth heaven, the heavenly king Shakra Devānām Indra, the sun god, the moon god, the morning star god, the seven stars of the Big Dipper, the twenty-eight constellations, the five planets, the seven stars, the countless eighty-four thousand other stars, the asura kings, the heavenly gods, earthly gods, gods of the mountains, gods of the seas, household gods, village gods, and the rulers of all the various countries of the world—not one of these is other than [a provisional manifestation of] Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings! The Sun Goddess, Great Bodhisattva Hachiman—both these in their original form are Shakyamuni Buddha, the lord of teachings.

"Shakyamuni Buddha is like the one moon in the sky, and the various other Buddhas, bodhisattvas, and beings are like the reflections floating on ten thousand different bodies of water. Thus a person who fashions a single image of Shakyamuni Buddha is in effect making images of all the Buddhas of the worlds in the ten directions." [Concerning The Buddha Statue Fashioned by Nichigen-nyo]